Come Midnight
by Solstice Zero
Summary: Jack says what is very much The Wrong Thing, and watches Ianto suffer the consequences. Jack/Ianto. Just after "Something Borrowed".


_**Author's Note:** This comes directly after Season 2's "Something Borrowed".  
_

* * *

_That's what I love about Torchwood. By day, chasing the scum of the universe – come midnight, you're the wedding fairy.  
- Ianto Jones_

Ianto leaned against the doorframe of Jack's office watching him stare at the photograph in his hand. When he cleared his throat, Jack startled a little and looked up. "What are you doing here?"

"Time for work." Ianto came in and set Jack's coffee cup – blue and white stripes – on his desk.

"You could have gone home and slept for a few hours. Tosh and Owen did," Jack picked up his mug and held it in both hands in front of his mouth, "Well, probably not Owen."

"You and he should form a club." Ianto settled against a window that looked out over the hub.

Jack smirked at him. "You have confetti in your hair."

Ianto swiped at it and watched the pink petals fall to the ground. "Well, someone threw it on the floor and then walked through and expected me to pick it up."

"I suspect it was the wedding fairy."

Ianto was not moved – his face remained serious. He gripped his own mug and peered down at it, not drinking. "You and Gwen looked – intimate, tonight." He almost sounded conversational. Almost.

Jack felt a flash of annoyance run through him and leaned forward over his desk. "Dancing is a pretty intimate thing. You seemed well aware of that when you cut in."

Ianto looked up at him. "What were you talking about?"

Another stab of annoyance. "I was telling her that Rhys is a lucky guy and that you have a nice ass. Is that okay?"

Ianto was silent for a moment, contemplating his coffee. Then he said, suddenly, into the quiet air, "What is it between you two?"

Jack clenched and unclenched his fists. "Nothing. Give it a rest."

"What about us?"

Jack raised a brow. "What _about_ us?"

Ianto flushed, looking embarrassed. "Our – relationship."

Jack didn't pause to think, just let his irritation answer for him. "_What_ relationship?"

He immediately regretted it. When the words were out, Ianto froze. His eyes on the floor, his hands wrapped around his coffee cup, Ianto went completely still for a moment and Jack could see the world ending in his eyes, though his face betrayed nothing. Jack watched the pieces fall into place in Ianto's head – Canary Wharf, Lisa, Torchwood Three, Jack. All of the horrible things that had ever happened to him suddenly coalescing. And then Ianto stood up straight and looked over Jack's shoulder as he said, "Maybe I will go home for a while. I'll be in by ten."

Then he was gone, with Jack staring after him, not at all sure what just happened.

- - -

Tosh and Owen showed up at nine-thirty to find Jack wandering around his office with his hands in his pockets and his hair on end from running his fingers through. He waylaid the questions that would have followed Owen's raised eyebrow by rationing out duties for the day – Weevil sightings by the Bay for Owen to deal with ("Smug bastards getting ballsy all of a sudden,") and a new bit of alien technology sent over by UNIT for Tosh to take apart and put back together.

When Ianto appeared there was nothing remiss in his work and nothing changed about his behavior. But when he came by Tosh's workstation with her coffee and gave her a smile before beginning to turn away, she couldn't help but ask, "Is there anything bothering you, Ianto?"

Jack was watching, unseen, from his office as Ianto turned back to face her with the same smile. "Nothing. Why do you ask?"

Tosh just shook her head, looking a bit concerned. "I just thought – you seem a little off today."

"Just tired, is all. Thank you, though." He picked up an empty plate from her desk, nodded and moved on.

Tosh watched him go, frowning. She looked up to Jack's office and saw him standing with his back to the windows, leaning over his desk.

- - -

"Jack, I think there's something wrong with Ianto."

Jack looked up from his lunch – which he was taking in his office, supposedly because he had work to do – to see Tosh standing in front of his desk, looking distinctly worried.

He said around a mouthful, "Why do you say that?"

She picked nervously at the edges of her sleeves. "He's acting – strange. Like he did before – you know. The basement."

Leave it to Tosh to choose the most benign part of any horrible event.

Jack swallowed and said, "How do you mean?"

"He's distant. Like he's talking to you from a thousand miles away. I think that's the way he gets when he's in pain." She hesitated, looking toward the door, and dropped her voice. "When I had – that necklace – I heard his thoughts. He looked the same way he does now, and his thoughts – God," remembering the way he'd sounded, the way he'd felt, made her feel like she was drowning. "I don't know what could be making him feel that way again, but I wondered – you two are – close. Maybe you should talk to him?"

Jack laughed. "It isn't exactly sitting around braiding each others' hair and talking about boys, Tosh. You talk to him."

Color rushed into Tosh's cheeks. "I couldn't. I wouldn't know what to say."

"Well then, leave it alone." Jack leaned back in his chair. "Whatever it is, he'll get over it."

Tosh stood looking at him for a few seconds, then nodded and turned to go. At the door she looked back for a moment – and saw Jack staring down at his desk, his face looking hunted. She hurried out and back to her workstation.

- - -

At the end of the day, Ianto set Jack's coffee mug on his desk and silently turned to go, but Jack said behind him, "Tosh came in today and told me that she thinks there's something wrong with you."

Ianto stopped and didn't turn around. Didn't say anything.

"Did you know she read your thoughts when she had that necklace?"

"I assumed that she did, yes." He still didn't turn.

"She never talked to you about it?"

"Some things are better not discussed, I think."

He heard Jack sigh, and the thump of an elbow on the desk. He knew Jack's face was in his hand.

"I'm sorry, Ianto."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, sir. It was – a misunderstanding."

There was a pause, and Ianto meant to move for the door, but then Jack spoke quietly behind him. "No, it wasn't."

Ianto glanced back, surprised, and he saw Jack's face, and it was somehow – open. Not guarded, not masked. Jack looked more naked than he ever had before. Ianto watched him as he stood up and came slowly toward him, then stopped. "I was angry. I don't know – what it is between Gwen and me. I think it's something I need. She keeps me – human." Ianto turned to face him; he'd never seen Jack look less sure of himself. Never seen him look more lost. "But I think-" He looked embarrassed; looked out of the windows at the hub. "I think I need you more."

Ianto took in a breath as Jack cradled his face in both of his hands. "I saw how much I hurt you this morning. I shouldn't have said it. I didn't mean it." He took a step closer to Ianto, brought their bodies together. "You shouldn't have to feel the way that you felt today. That's long done." He pressed their foreheads together. "This is real. You've got me. You've got me."

Ianto felt all of the muscles in his body relax and he leaned against Jack, gripping his shirt. He exhaled for what felt like the first time all day.

- - -

Tosh had forgotten something on her desk, so she popped back in for a moment to slip it into her purse. Finished, she looked up at Jack's office to see if he was in – and saw him there with Ianto, standing close together, calm and still.

She grinned to herself and left quietly, quite sure they hadn't noticed her at all.


End file.
